


Pennies from Heaven

by AnnaOnTheMoon, GottaHaveAName



Series: Broken Chains [5]
Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 06:10:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14443050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaOnTheMoon/pseuds/AnnaOnTheMoon, https://archiveofourown.org/users/GottaHaveAName/pseuds/GottaHaveAName
Summary: This is part 5 in the series Broken Chains. If you don't wish to read the other four stories (alternating authors, GottaHaveAName and AnnaOnTheMoon), please note that their relationship has progressed. Jean-Luc asked Beverly to move in, get married, and have a family, but she's told him to wait... it's entirely too soon.  Maybe.Takes place directly after "Chain of Command" to fill in missing blanks from him being tortured to being perfectly fine on the bridge when he relieves Captain Jellico from command of the Enterprise.**Comments in bold are from the script.





	Pennies from Heaven

Jean-Luc stood patiently while Beverly finished buttoning his shirt.  Perhaps this was the lesson he was to learn from all of this: not that Beverly was his weakness, but she was very much his strength.  She enabled him to endure the infantile flatware and gave him privacy to use them in his quarters instead of the public of sickbay.  She didn’t complain when he needed help in the shower, bathroom, or any other embarrassing, personal space.  He knew he’d not have come this far this quickly without her and everything she’d done.

He leaned forward and placed a tender kiss on her lips.  “Thank you.”

“For what?”  Her arms circled his neck, her fingers toying lightly with the hair that was getting a bit too long for regulation. 

“Oh, I don’t know.”  His eyes crinkled in a smile.  “Dressing me, feeding me, showering with me, brushing my teeth.”

“They needed brushed.”  She kissed him again.  “Your teeth were getting fuzzy, and mouthwash only covers so many sins.”

“You don’t have to do any of this.”

“Yes, I do, because I love you, and this is what love is like, Jean-Luc.”  She rested her head on his shoulder.  “I’m so thankful to have you here and alive.  Doing little things to help you is a small price.”

“I’m glad you’re willing to pay it.”  The pair stood relaxing in the comfort of one another’s arms for several minutes. 

“I wish I didn’t have to go anywhere.”  Beverly sighed heavily. 

“Your meeting with Deanna?”  Jean-Luc stroked her back lightly.

“Yes.  I need to see if she’d be willing to reinstate you temporarily until we can bid Jellico farewell.”

“Do you think she’ll have reservations?”

“Jean-Luc, I have reservations, and the only reason I’m agreeing is that I know I can remove you from duty.  She doesn’t have that assurance.”

“Ah.”  He nodded.  “That makes sense.  Would it help if I promise her to step aside?”

“No, if my word isn’t good enough, she’ll not agree to you, either.”

“I’ve been that bad, eh?”

“Not just your emotions, but your physical state is still poor.”  She smiled sadly at him.  “You’ve only been back a few days.  No one expects you to be back to your old self yet.”

Jean-Luc wiggled his fingers playfully. “See?  I’m all better.”

“You.”  Beverly pushed him backwards onto the bed, laughing.  “You can’t button buttons, hold a fork or spoon, and yet finger movements are supposed to make your doctor happy?”

“Well, I think it’s safe to say I’ve got a good handle on pinching, tugging, and…”  She smothered him with a pillow as he laughingly tried to buck her off of his chest.

####

“Beverly, I’m just not certain that reinstating him, even temporarily, will be a good solution.”  Deanna shook her head. 

“Deanna, I’m not asking you to file a full report saying that he’s fully fit to serve, but that he’s good enough to take control of this ship for long enough to set things right.  That’s all anyone wants.”

“Believe me, I know.”  Deanna sighed.  “I have to ask if you’re letting your relationship with the captain interfere with your professional duties.”

“I can’t believe you just asked me that.”

“Yes, you can.”  Deanna’s tone brooked no argument.  “And I think you need to answer the question.”

“I’d like to understand where this hesitation is coming from.”

“Why isn’t he here?”  Deanna sorted through Beverly’s feelings as they were speaking, and was so far fairly certain that her friend was acting in an ethical manner, but until Beverly clearly assured her that there was no conflation between lover and officer, Deanna wasn’t going to go along with a potentially disastrous plan.  “Why have you chosen to protect him from the unpleasantness of this conversation?”

“It’s not necessary to have him here.”

“If this were a meeting with any other crew member who needed to be reinstated, they would be present to speak for themselves.  Why have you chosen to speak to me without him?”

Beverly sat back and thought. 

“He knows he’s not fit for duty, Deanna.  He’s fully aware that if there’s a distress call, an anomaly, or any other unseen circumstance, that he’d not be able to handle it.  He’s aware of that, Deanna.  He’s also aware that his first officer is confined to quarters.  His second officer has stepped up admirably yet is confused.  He’s aware, from interactions with crew in Sickbay and Ten Forward, that everyone is nervous and uncertain.  He’s aware that he’s the only one who has the chance to fix it.”

“But why isn’t he here?  Why did you opt to leave him in your quarters instead of bringing him with you?’

“Because I know how much it would hurt him to be told he’s not able to fix the unease he sees and feels around him.  I know how much of a blow it would be to his psyche to be told he’s not anywhere close to being able to solve this problem.  I’m protecting him.”

“Yes.  Are you protecting him as a doctor, or as a lover?”

Beverly ran her hands down her face.  She drew in a deep breath and sighed.  “I’ve come here as his lover, haven’t I?” 

“I believe you already know the answer to that.”

“If I go get him, and we redo this conversation with him here…”

“You’ll have a much better chance of my going along with it.”

“Thank you.” 

######

Captain Picard strode purposefully down the corridors of his ship.  He had been made fully aware that his reinstatement had a time limit, and he hoped to be finished before the limit was forcibly imposed.  By the time he reached the bridge, he could feel his energy flagging and cursed Gul Madred once again.

Jellico stood looking over the reports on a PADD, but looked up when Picard entered. 

“ **Captain on the Bridge. Welcome home, Jean-Luc.** ”  
**  
“Thank you.”**    
**  
“Just the way you left it, maybe a little better. Computer, transfer all command codes to Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Voice authorization Jellico alpha three one.”  
  
“Transfer complete. USS Enterprise now under command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard.”   
  
“I relieve you, sir.”   
  
“I stand relieved.” **  He looked around the bridge. **“It's been an honor serving with you.”**

Jellico strode from the room, and Jean-Luc visibly sagged.  He thanked the fates that Jellico had already received the reports from both Deanna and Beverly that he was fit to return. He waited until he was certain the turbolift doors had closed before speaking.   
  
“You have the Bridge, Number One.”   
  
“Aye, sir.” 

“Number One?”

“Yes, sir?”

“I’ll be in my ready room.”  Jean-Luc walked slowly to avoid staggering and sank gratefully into his chair.  “Where the blazes did he put my couch?”  He looked over to where Livingston resided and shook his head.  “Even my bloody fish.”

#####

Beverly sat at her desk reviewing crew records and checking flagged reports when she stumbled across one that unnerved her. 

 _Beverly Crusher, CMO : birth control implant renewal_.  She’d completely forgotten about it in the business following Jean-Luc’s abduction, Jellico’s arrival, the discovery that Jean-Luc was still alive, and his return to the ship. 

She grabbed the tricorder sitting on the corner of her desk in a panic. What if she was pregnant? Statistically, it was unlikely that she would become pregnant within a week of her implant expiring, but it would be so typical of her body to not follow science. She scanned herself with her eyes closed, afraid to look at the results.

"Doctor Crusher? Are you alright?"  Of course it had to be Alyssa Ogawa who popped her head in the door.  But then, thank the fates it was Alyssa and no one else.  

"No. Yes. I don't know!"

"Can I help?"

"Look at this tricorder and tell me what it says"

"Perfectly healthy adult human female."

"And?"

"And what?" Alyssa looked as confused as she sounded.

"Is the perfectly healthy adult human female pregnant?"

"No."  Alyssa drew the word out as she shook her head, thinking there was no way that her first impression could be right. 

Beverly let out a breath she didnt know she was holding. "Thank you, Alyssa."

 "You’re not usually this nervous about a scan, Doctor. Is everything alright?”

“Yes, yes.  Everything is fine.”  Beverly managed a weak smile.  “I just didn’t want to have to be the bearer of poorly timed news.”

The penny dropped for Alyssa and she closed the door behind her. “The tricorder readings are yours, aren't they?"  Beverly nodded, her eyes filling with tears.  “Want to talk about it?” 

#####

Jean-Luc woke from his short nap and winced as his back let him know that sleeping in his recliner (for naps he didn’t take) was far superior to sleeping in a chair that wasn’t his own.  He stretched and felt a moment of gratitude that he lived with a doctor, and then castigated himself immediately after for the thought.  She wasn’t there just to cater to his every physical need.  He grinned as he thought of how he’d make up for all of her attention once he was healed.  Perhaps a massage and taking care of a few of her… physical needs… would not be awry.

He exited his ready room and walked slowly back to his quarters.  He considered making a brief stop in Sickbay just to see her, but decided against it, as they were not yet putting their relationship on display.

Once in his quarters, he settled on the couch and closed his eyes for another nap, grumbling about his frailty, snarling at Gul Madred, and Cardassians in general.  He kicked off his shoes and lay down, pulling the afghan on the back over himself before drifting off to sleep. 

In his sleep, the afghan came to mind.  He watched it as it covered both Wesley and Beverly as they slept after one of his early-morning feedings.  Jean-Luc had been visiting the young family and had gone for a run, returning just as the boy and his mother had fallen asleep.  That memory had remained one of the most beautiful sights he’d ever seen.  It had also become attached to jealousy that he’d not been able to take the baby in his arms and kiss her awake… that privilege belonged to the man who was drinking coffee at the kitchen table acting like such a sight was common, despite having been in space for months and having never spent a night with his family before.     

He saw the afghan once again as he sat next to her on the couch the night of Jack’s funeral.  Wesley was sitting in her lap, but had a firm grip on his hand.  The boy had eventually situated himself so that he was sitting on one of his mother’s legs and one of his.  Beverly made a motion that she was getting up for a bit, and Jean-Luc nodded, changing Wesley’s position once again so that he was cradled in his “Uncle’s” arms.  Beverly pulled the afghan from behind him and covered them before leaving to replicate dinner.  It was the first time Jean-Luc could remember falling asleep under it.

He remembered cradling a sick Wesley as the boy coughed and whimpered as a fever wracked his body, all the while wrapped in the comfortable afghan.  He remembered covering Beverly with it after sitting talking with her after Wesley had been in danger on that infernal Rubicun III, after she’d fallen asleep on his shoulder. More scenes with the old afghan flashed in his mind like an old home movie.  He’d fallen asleep in Beverly’s quarters after being released from Sickbay following he and Wesley’s misadventure with Captain Dargo.  He’d been spending a last few precious hours with the boy he considered his own, and didn’t realize he’d fallen asleep until the morning when he overheard the two talking in the kitchenette. 

His eyes snapped open with sudden clarity and he sat up.  When had she brought this over?  His eyes wandered to his desk, where a tri-fold picture frame held photos of Wesley at various ages.  His brow furrowed as he stood and looked around his living room.  How had he missed so many tiny changes?  Beverly’s favorite spider plant sat on its little podium, but it was by his bay window instead of hers.  Two pairs of her shoes had joined his on the rug off to the side of the entry.  A tricorder and a few PADD’s with medical jargon he could never hope to understand sat next to his. 

He strode to his bedroom and pulled open drawers, each one more frantically than the last. Half of the dresser was filled with her clothing.  He flung open the closet, eyes closing, as if he was afraid to look.  He peeked, and a slow smile spreading across his face.  For there right next to his dress uniform hung hers, along with the pale pink gown she’d worn to Ambassador T’Lek’s retirement party.  He’d complimented her on it, saying that he hoped he’d see her wearing it again. 

He shut the closet with a grin and hurried out into the living room. He surveyed his bookcase full of books, trinkets and knickknacks and thought he might try to shuffle a few things around for Beverly.  He gingerly picked up a silver teapot and was relieved he hadn’t dropped it. His hands shook as he reached for a breakable piece of pottery and he was rewarded with being able to move it.  He selected a few of his books and put them carefully on the shelf above his clothing in their closet, and then shifted the remaining pieces from the shelf with the teapot to sit next to his books.  He could always switch the books out later, but moving them provided her with an entire shelf of her own.  They could rearrange more later.  He surveyed his work.  His hands hurt now, but he couldn't wait for her to get home.


End file.
